The brutal executions of the Four Martyrs
Posted by Jim on December 11, 2025
IRISH REPUBLICAN NEWS:
On December 9, 1922, four anti-Treaty IRA prisoners were murdered at the hands of the pro-Treaty Free State forces. An account by Peter McDermott, originally published by the Irish Echo newspaper.
In the dark hours of Friday morning the Dec. 8, Joe McKelvey, Liam Mellows, Rory O’Connor and Dick Barrett, were woken from their sleep by armed guards and the Deputy Governor Paudeen O’Keeffe. They were told to dress and to pack their meagre belongings, but they were given no hint of what was to come. Joe piled his little collection of books into a pillowcase, including ‘The Gadfly,’ and threw them over his shoulder as he left. Most likely they believed that they were being moved to another part of the prison or indeed another location. They were moved to another wing without any disturbance or commotion from the other prisoners, who like Peadar O’Donnell continued to sleep through their removal. They were each placed in a cell alone. O’Keeffe entered each in turn, handed each man a document which informed them that they were to be shot at 8am in reprisal for the killing of Seán Hales:
“You Joseph McKelvey are hereby notified that, being a person taken in arms against the government, you will be executed as reprisal for the assassination of Brigadier Seán Hales TD in Dublin on December 7th, on his way to a meeting of Dáil Eireann and as a solemn warning to those associated with you who are engaged in a conspiracy of assassination against the representatives of the Irish people.”
Only a select few were aware of the impending executions. The then Archbishop of Dublin Dr Edward Byrne spent the early hours trying to persuade W.T.Cosgrave, the head of the Free State cabinet, to reverse the decision of the government, but his pleas fell on deaf ears. After the executions he wrote to Cosgrave:
“…….the policy of reprisals seems to me to be not only unwise but entirely unjustifiable from the moral point of view. That one man should be punished for another’s crime seems to me to be absolutely unjust.”
All four were brought to the prison chapel to hear mass. McKelvey, O’Connor and Barrett received Holy Communion but Mellows did not, Mellows had been asked to repudiate the Republican cause by the priest and had refused. They left the chapel in single file, led by Mellows, with O’Connor at the rear. When they entered the hallway, they were blindfolded. Canon Pigott, one of the priests in attendance who was there at O’Connor’s request, intervened and took Mellows back to one of the cells and after a short delay, he too received Holy Communion. He held a little crucifix in his hand and asked Cannon Pigott that it be returned to his mother after his death.
Once again they were blindfolded and led to the prison yard together. Dick Barrett, struck up the song, “The Top of the Cork Road,” as they were positioned beside one another in a row. “Here’s a health to you, Father O’Flynn, Slainte and Slainte and Slainte agin…” Their hands were tied behind their backs and a target pinned over each of their hearts. Mellows bid the lads “Slán Libh.”
They faced a firing squad of twenty Free State soldiers, lined up in two rows of ten, one row kneeling in front of the other…Four parties of five soldiers were instructed to fire on a different prisoner in order to ensure that each were killed. The order was given “Fire!”
The results were tragically shambolic. For some reason, most of the soldiers fired on Rory O’Connor and he was struck that many times that his clothes caught fire. The gruesome sight sent some of the soldiers into confusion and panic. O’Connor was the only one to be killed immediately, the other three were gravely wounded, though only Joe McKelvey remained conscious.
McNeill and Gunn stood by to deliver the coup de grace and after some confusion and hesitation moved among the dying prisoners finishing them off. Canon Pigott and Canon McMahon anointed three of the men but heard Joe call out, “give me another one,” McNeill fired a shot into McKelvey’s chest but once again missed the heart, Joe called again “and another” before being finished off with a shot to the head.
Dorothy McArdle who was being held in the women prisoner’s wing in Mountjoy, recalled hearing the first volley of shots closely followed by nine single shots. As Canon Pigott made to leave the prison, he remembered Mellows request to deliver the small crucifix to his mother. He returned to where the bodies still lay and found the crucifix lying close to Mellows body. On leaving the prison, he made straight to the home of Mrs Mellows and broke the horrible news of her son’s death to her.
Their broken bodies were then transferred to another part of the prison, placed in coffins and buried in four unmarked graves. That morning the prisoners made their way to mass, as it was a holy day. It was here that their comrades were told the grave news by Canon McMahon. Peadar O’Donnell recalled the moment: “I got the news in the door of the chapel. I just went wooden. I was completely dried of all feeling. I saw men sob and I heard men curse but the whole chapel was detached. I didn’t kneel during mass. The priest had said before turning to the altar to begin: ‘We will offer this mass for your four comrades who have gone before their God.’”